The federal government lost about N113.4 billion to
restrictive import policies in the first quarter of 2014, the Seaport
Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) has said.
STOAN chairman, Mrs Victoria Haastrup, who made the observation at an industry forum in Lagos yesterday, also said the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has failed to keep to terms of concession agreement entered with the terminal concessionaires in 2006.
She said: “The federal government generates a lot of revenue from the port terminals. The recent policy somersault on imports resulted in revenue drop across board, even in the Nigerian Customs, whose revenue dropped from N191.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013 to N77.9 billion in same period of 2014.”
Haastrup specifically lamented poor power supply at the port, which falls under the provision of the NPA in the concession agreement, stressing that the lack of public power supply to the terminal had tremendously increased cost of their operations, “while still paying the NPA electricity bills.” She urged the port’s authority to consider putting independent power plant production in place.
According to her, multiplicity of service process by customary government agencies in the port and frictions among maritime statutory agencies due to alleged overlapping functions constituted bottlenecks to international best practices in seaport terminal operations.
“Port access vehicular traffic control system is chaotic. It has reduced the turnaround time of trucks resulting in high cost of haulage and congestion of the terminals. Dependency on only one mode of transport for movement of cargo from the port terminal is a big challenge,” she said.
Also advising the Nigeria Shippers’ Council in its new role as the seaport economic regulator, the ENL Terminal owner said, “The Council must be decisive in its regulatory role so as to ensure uniformity in the imposition of charges and fees. It must also ensure that only those necessarily required to be operating at the Ports are allowed to operate.”
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STOAN chairman, Mrs Victoria Haastrup, who made the observation at an industry forum in Lagos yesterday, also said the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has failed to keep to terms of concession agreement entered with the terminal concessionaires in 2006.
She said: “The federal government generates a lot of revenue from the port terminals. The recent policy somersault on imports resulted in revenue drop across board, even in the Nigerian Customs, whose revenue dropped from N191.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013 to N77.9 billion in same period of 2014.”
Haastrup specifically lamented poor power supply at the port, which falls under the provision of the NPA in the concession agreement, stressing that the lack of public power supply to the terminal had tremendously increased cost of their operations, “while still paying the NPA electricity bills.” She urged the port’s authority to consider putting independent power plant production in place.
According to her, multiplicity of service process by customary government agencies in the port and frictions among maritime statutory agencies due to alleged overlapping functions constituted bottlenecks to international best practices in seaport terminal operations.
“Port access vehicular traffic control system is chaotic. It has reduced the turnaround time of trucks resulting in high cost of haulage and congestion of the terminals. Dependency on only one mode of transport for movement of cargo from the port terminal is a big challenge,” she said.
Also advising the Nigeria Shippers’ Council in its new role as the seaport economic regulator, the ENL Terminal owner said, “The Council must be decisive in its regulatory role so as to ensure uniformity in the imposition of charges and fees. It must also ensure that only those necessarily required to be operating at the Ports are allowed to operate.”
Stay up to date, follow us on Twitter; @thundergist
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